Practice Piece, knife Sheath

[Brokenolmarine]

Couldn't work on the range berm today, so I went out in the shop to work on the leather bench.  I thought I would practice some new tooling I had seen in a book Miss Tina picked up at Hobby Lobby.  They said to play with "Other Tools" not normally used for borders, to do your borders.  Like vieners or camo tools.  So, I started a center of the back sheath for a Kbar, made from scrap leather just to work out the design.  I tooled the front panel and I'm not sure I care for it.  Miss Tina likes it, so I told her I'll finish the sheath as a belt sheath and make her another knife to fit it. 

I think the border is too busy and I let the spacing get away from me at places, and I should have used a template to insure the bottom of the sheath was smoothly curved.  What else?

 

 

[Brokenolmarine]

There were some other cool ideas in that book, including using the H shaped tool that makes the serpentine border to make a heart pattern for coin/clutch purses.  I'll make one for my granddaughter when I get the spacing down. LOL.

[JRLeather2]

I used to teach a basic leather tooling class at my local Tandy Store. I taught them the purpose of the different tool types, beveler, pear shader , etc. Then I taught them that most tools could be used for other things and that they were only limited by their imagination.

[PastorBob]

Love the creativity.  I may have eliminated the seeder and staggered the two rows of veiner stamps.  How are you setting up your berm?

[Brokenolmarine]

I bought three bundles of Rail Road Ties when he local Rail Road pulled them, sixteen in each banded bundle..  Great savings over buying them at the garden supply or box stores. $8 each vs $20 each.  My plan all along was an open U shape facing the range house approximately 100 yards away, with the ties interlocking.  I fell a year ago when my bad leg failed as I moved back when one stack started to fall when the band broke, and broke my wrist in two places... a year to recover from the surgery due to Complex Regional Pain Syndrome... (Nerve Damage)  But.... we are finally getting the berm built.  In the pic below, you can see the staggered pattern of the ties, the (gray) range house about 90 yards up range, and the nice shaded range that this location promises.  YUP, normally ranges are built in the beating sun to avoid shadows.  I shot competition for fifty years, so OH BOY do I know this.  But, I am no longer competing and this is Oklahoma.  Triple Digit Summers...  Yup, shade and wind breaks are nice. LOL.

The ties are about 8" thick and each leg will contain 16, so we are looking at about 10' in height.  Once the berm wall is complete, I will pile a dirt berm in front of it.  The purpose of the wall is to hold the dirt in place.  I will line the bottom layers of dirt with tires and fill the tires with dirt to help control erosion.  To avoid ricochets, the tires will be buried in the dirt and never exposed.  Anyway, that's the plan.

 

[chuck123wapati]

45 minutes ago, Brokenolmarine said:

I bought three bundles of Rail Road Ties when he local Rail Road pulled them, sixteen in each banded bundle..  Great savings over buying them at the garden supply or box stores. $8 each vs $20 each.  My plan all along was an open U shape facing the range house approximately 100 yards away, with the ties interlocking.  I fell a year ago when my bad leg failed as I moved back when one stack started to fall when the band broke, and broke my wrist in two places... a year to recover from the surgery due to Complex Regional Pain Syndrome... (Nerve Damage)  But.... we are finally getting the berm built.  In the pic below, you can see the staggered pattern of the ties, the (gray) range house about 90 yards up range, and the nice shaded range that this location promises.  YUP, normally ranges are built in the beating sun to avoid shadows.  I shot competition for fifty years, so OH BOY do I know this.  But, I am no longer competing and this is Oklahoma.  Triple Digit Summers...  Yup, shade and wind breaks are nice. LOL.

The ties are about 8" thick and each leg will contain 16, so we are looking at about 10' in height.  Once the berm wall is complete, I will pile a dirt berm in front of it.  The purpose of the wall is to hold the dirt in place.  I will line the bottom layers of dirt with tires and fill the tires with dirt to help control erosion.  To avoid ricochets, the tires will be buried in the dirt and never exposed.  Anyway, that's the plan.

 

awesome plan if you ask me!! i would love a range within walkin distance lol.

[Brokenolmarine]

The house is about fifty yards behind the range house.

[Brokenolmarine]

I went ahead and assembled the sheath as Miss T asked.  It was really the first project I used the Cowboy 3200 on, and she supervised over my shoulder offering advice.  I don't really sew (on machines) that often.  With the new leather machine in the shop I am going to start, but it will be a learning experience.  She likes it, but I'll probably do another couple in this style, learning from the mistakes.

[Brokenolmarine]

... and, Finish and antique applied.  It's done.

The back and edges were dyed black and the edges were burnished.  Turned out better than expected since it was just a practice piece until Miss Tina claimed it.

 

[Brokenolmarine]

Please note that after several hours drying time the finish colors evened out.  I didn't notice the difference on the smaller screen or on the sheath in natural light.  Funny what the camera pics up.